THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY2 The Lives and Opinions

120 THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY
tried to cheat him of a small inheritance] 8 his former friends shunned
him. No wonder there is little humor in Spinoza! And no wonder he
breaks out with some bitterness occasionally when he thinks of the Keeper*
of the Law.
Those who wish to seek out the causes of miracles, and to understand the
things of nature as philosophers, and not to stare at them in astonishment
like fools, are soon considered heretical and impious, and proclaimed as
such by those whom the mob adore as the interpreters
of nature and the
gods. For these men know that once ignorance is put aside, that wonderment
would be taken away which is the only means by which their authority is
preserved. 9
The culminating experience came shortly after the excommunication*
One night as Spinoza was walking through the streets, a pious ruffian
bent on demonstrating his theology by murder, attacked the young
student with drawn dagger. Spinoza, turning quickly, escaped with a
slight wound on the neck. Concluding that there are few places in this
world where it is safe to be a philosopher, he went to live in a quiet attic
room on the Outerdek road outside of Amsterdam. It was now, probably,
that he changed his name from Baruch to Benedict. His host and hostess
ivere Christians of the Mennonite sect, and could in some measure under-
stand a heretic. They liked his sadly kind face (those who have suffered
much become very bitter or very gentle), and were delighted when, occasionally,
he would come down of an evening, smoke his pipe with
them, and tune his talk to their simple strain. He made his living at first
by teaching children in Van den Ende's school, and then by polishing
lenses, as if he had an inclination for dealing with refractory material.
He had learned the optical trade while living in the Jewish community;
it was in accord with Hebrew canon that every student should acquire
some manual art; not only because study and honest teaching can seldom
make a livelihood, but, as Gamaliel had said, work keeps one virtuous,
whereas "every learned man who fails to acquire a trade will at last turn
out a rogue."
Five years later (1660) his host moved to Rhynsburg, near Leyden;
and Spinoza moved with him. The house still stands, and the road bears
the philosopher's name. These were years of plain living and high think-
ing. Many times he stayed in his room for two or three days together,
seeing nobody, and having his modest meals brought up to him. The
lenses were well done, but not so continuously as to earn for Spinoza
more than merely enough; he loved wisdom too much to be a "successful"
man. Golems, who followed Spinoza in these lodgings, and wrote a short
life of the philosopher from the reports of those who had known him,
^e contested the case in court; won it; and then turned over the bequest to the
sister.
*Ethics t Part I* Appendix.